Pillar F · Foundations
Immigration and Border Security
“A nation without borders is not a nation.”
Full state-federal cooperation. Mandatory E-Verify. English proficiency for CDLs. End public benefits for those not lawfully present.
Where I stand
- Mandatory E-Verify for South Dakota employers.
- Full cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
- English proficiency requirement for commercial driver's licenses.
- No public benefits or in-state tuition for those not lawfully present.
Pushback, answered
The hard questions, answered straight.
These are the real objections this position gets, with the same answers Zac gives in person. No talking points. No dodges.
“This is a federal issue. You are running for the state House.”
The border crossing is federal. Every item on my list is a state lever. Whether South Dakota employers must use E-Verify is state law. Whether our agencies cooperate with federal enforcement is state policy. Whether tax dollars fund benefits and tuition discounts for people not lawfully present is a state budget decision. Commercial driver's licenses are issued by the state. I am not promising to build a wall from Pierre. I am promising to pull the four levers Pierre actually holds, without apology.
“E-Verify is red tape for small business.”
I am a businessman and I have no patience for paperwork that exists to make a bureaucrat feel busy. E-Verify is not that. It is a free federal tool that takes minutes and confirms a new hire is lawfully eligible to work. The employer it actually squeezes is the one gaining an edge by hiring people not lawfully here and paying them off the books. Right now the honest shop in Rapid City eats that disadvantage on every single bid. Mandatory E-Verify is not a burden on honest employers, it is their protection.
“We have a workforce shortage. This will hurt the economy.”
South Dakota needs workers and nobody serious disputes it. A shortage is still not a license to look away while an under-the-table labor market undercuts the wages of working families in North Rapid. And here is the part that gets skipped: nothing in this plank touches a worker who is here lawfully. E-Verify clears a lawful worker in minutes. The people who came the right way deserve a labor market that is not rigged against them by the people who did not.
“Requiring English for truck drivers is discrimination.”
It is a safety standard, and it protects every family sharing the road regardless of what language they speak at home. An eighty thousand pound rig on I-90 in a Black Hills winter is not the place to discover that a driver cannot read a closure sign, follow a detour, or understand a trooper at a roadside stop. A driver from any background can meet the standard. South Dakota should confirm it before handing over the license rather than after the crash.